this is bbc news, i'm victoria fritz with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. western governments reject an ultimatum set by president putin that payments for russian gas be made in roubles. president biden tries to combat rising fuel prices at the pump — freeing up millions of gallons of crude oil. with little more than a week to go until the first round of the french presidential election — we're on the campaign trail with emmanuel macron. i think my duty was to deal with the war, to make maximum... first to avoid the war and now to try to de—escalate and stop it. but at the same time i have to campaign. and life goes on in kyiv —

the highs and lows for the people of a country at war. i'm scary — it's normal! now, when you listen, "bah—back!" and "rah—ta—ta—ta—tah!" a lot of, of course i'm scary, but it's my city. hello and welcome. western governments have rejected an ultimatum from president putin for payments for russian gas supplies to be made in roubles from friday. germany, france and austria have all described moscow's demand as blackmail. mr putin's ultimatum is an attempt to boost the russian currency — which has been hit by sanctions following the invasion of ukraine. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, reports from moscow.

it's where vladimir putin likes to be — centre stage. and from the kremlin leader today, a threat to cut gas supplies to what he called unfriendly nations if they don't pay in roubles. translation: the financial| system of western countries is being used as a weapon. western companies refused to fulfil contracts with russian banks. assets in dollars and euros are frozen so it makes no sense to use the currencies of these countries. europe relies heavily on russian gas. the demand for payment in roubles, not foreign currency, may be designed to make putin look strong at home. in europe, they will be hoping energy supplies won't be interrupted. the west claims mr putin is taking decisions based on inaccurate information, but one of his supporters told me this.

translation: i think putin has the most accurate information | from different sources, including from the intelligence services. he is probably the most well—informed person in russia. the kremlin insists the west is misreading putin. president putin's spokesman said the pentagon and the us state department simply don't understand what goes on in the kremlin. they don't understand president putin. and that was worrying, he said, because total misunderstanding can lead to wrong decisions and bad consequences. the kremlin continues to claim that attacking ukraine was the right decision. many russians agree. but not everyone. lyudmila's son, sergei, is a police officer. theirfamily is originally from ukraine. a few days ago, sergei was arrested and charged under a new law, with spreading fake news about the russian army. he is suspected of criticising the russian offensive on the telephone.

translation: this| is a very heavy blow for me, for the family, the little children. suddenly, their dad just disappeared. he never went to protests. he has no social media. hejust spoke to friends on the phone. i can't rule out that he said something like, "war is bad, people are dying, homes are being destroyed and that's bad". lyudmila still can't believe this is happening to herfamily. and she is still struggling to understand why. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. us presidentjoe biden has formally announced his plan to release one million barrels of crude oil each day for the next six months, from the us strategic petroleum reserve. it's the largest such release in the history of america's stockpiles.

global energy prices have skyrocketed since russia's invasion of ukraine, and mr biden says his actions — along with international cooperation — will help bring those under control. i've co—ordinated this release with allies and partners around the world. already, we have commitments from other countries to release tens of millions of additional barrels into the market. together, our combined efforts will supply well over a million barrels a day. nations coming together to deny putin the ability to weaponise his energy resources against american families and families and democracies around the world. we'll have plenty more analysis on that story in 20 minutes in our business news. we have the oil and gas energy analyst coming up to talk about that. let's get some of

the day's other news. the western half of the chinese city of shanghai has gone into lockdown — the second phase of a plan to curb the spread of covid. the eastern half of the city has been locked down since monday, and will be allowed to gradually emerge from its restrictions. riot police have been deployed near the sri lankan president's house in the capital, colombo, after a large protest against deepening economic crises in the country. angry protesters have pulled down police barriers. this came as the government began imposing an unprecedented 13—hour country—wide power cut. pakistan's prime minister imran khan has refused to resign ahead of a no—confidence vote on sunday. he lost his majority in parliament after one of his allies — the mom party — withdrew their support on wednesday. the no—confidence vote requires a simple majority and — on paper at least — the opposition have 11 more votes than the government. it's just over a week until the first round of the presidential elections in france, where the incumbent emmanuel macron is fighting against a field of 11 other candidates to try to

win a second term. the campaign's been overshadowed by the war in ukraine, and there's a growing challenge from the far—right candidate marine le pen. the bbc�*s hugh schofield sent this report from the coastal town of fouras. he's the favourite, but he hasn't actually done very much campaigning — and that may be starting to be a problem. president macron�*s main rival, marine le pen, has been creeping up in the polls. he needs to get out more to press the flesh, to show the french that he listens. emmanuel macron has been stung by criticism that, because of the war in ukraine, he's taken his eye off these elections. it feeds into a narrative of a president who's happier in the palace than among the people. this is him trying to push back to quash that negative image. it's not that the president lacks energy or empathy, but — as he admitted to me — he is having to divide his time.

when you both govern and preside and campaign...| mean, you have to face both challenges. so i think my duty was to deal with the war, to make the maximum... first, to avoid the war, and now to try to de—escalate and stop it. but at the same time, i have to campaign. fouras on the atlantic coast is favourable territory for macron — quite prosperous, plenty of affluent retirees. these are the people he's targeting, say election observers, because these people vote a lot. what the polls are showing for now is that there is a silent majority infavour of him. upper—middle—class people, retired people, er, educated people — and those people are voting, they go to the voting booth. but in fouras, oyster—grower eric is worried about the economic backdrop to the election.

fuel costs are shooting up. he can't pay his workers the money they deserve. oysters won't be a priority when shopping lists are hit by inflation. he's one of many who say they still don't know how they'll vote. translation: | feel it's really up in the air. - at the last election five years ago, it was obvious it was going to be macron against le pen in the second round, and then macron would win easily. but this time round, there could be a surprise. this election should be plain sailing for the president — every pundit�*s been saying it's his for the taking. but these last few days, a ripple of concern — it isn't over yet. hugh schofield, bbc news, fouras, on france's atlantic coast. one of the clear consequences of the conflict in ukraine is the reassessment of the defence needs of western countries. the military invasion has provoked a comprehensive reappraisal within nato — the defence alliance

led by the usa. in the eu, it is seen by its founders as a guarantor of peace in europe. katya adler — our europe editor — has been investigating how the debate is shaping up. it's been a brutal wake—up call. russia's assault on ukraine has left all of europe feeling exposed. at the reichstag, it certainly feels like a historical moment. to boost european security, germany is saying goodbye to world war ii sensitivities. translation: germany has woken up with a bang. - the second world war was decades ago. we are now modernising our military. our allies have waited too long to do our bit. save ukraine! protect europe! so, germans say they will fight as well as protest for peace. they know they'd relied too much on the us for security. germany can't act because we

are not in danger yet! they�* re overly dependent on russia too for energy and trade. under pressure, berlin has promised change in the wider eu interest. it's about serenity within europe, and i think it's about when it comes to defence and security policies, but also when it comes to imports, when it comes to energy and independence. there will be no forgetting what putin has done. or what he'll do next. in berlin, there's fear of a new cold war with the iron curtain falling further to the east. this is arguably europe's new berlin wall, this border fence a dividing line between expansionist russia over there and eu and nato member latvia, over here. fire! nato has doubled its presence in latvia since russia invaded ukraine with an emphasis onjoint training exercises like this one and defence

of western territory and way of life. we are living in a new reality. we as forces spent 20 years in afghanistan and iraq. now our main focus is here. how do we defend our freedom and our country? and it's the same thing happening within europe. latvia and its neighbours say they understand the kremlin more than most. they used to be in the soviet union. forget diplomacy, says latvia's prime minister, it's a show of force that counts. if putin is not stopped in ukraine, he will not stop. what about a european army, an eu army? goodidea? as long as we keep nato at the centre, the strengthening the european's military capabilities, this is something that we have been arguing for for years, and it now seems that finally everyone agrees this needs to be done.

vladimir putin has brought large—scale death and destruction back to europe. the eu — a peace project by design — has been shocked out of complacency. action western allies take together now will affect all our safety and security for years to come. katya adler, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news — still to come. lives turned upside down — we'll tell you about the ukrainian orphans who've had to be evacuated twice. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can, at worst, produce a meltdown. in this case, the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing.

the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become - a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians| wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is- being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustav eiffeh — this is bbc news, the latest headlines... western governments reject an ultimatum set by president putin for payments for russian gas to be

made in roubles. his american counterpart tries to combat rising fuel prices at the pump by freeing up millions of barrels of crude oil. some 95% of people do not have enough to eat. nine million people are at risk of famine. and a million severely malnourished children are on the verge of death, without immediate action. that is how the un has described the humanitarian situation in afghanistan. at a pledging conference in geneva, the un had asked for $4.4 billion in international aid. in the end, only 2.4 billion — just over half of that — was pledged. achim steiner is the administrator with the un development programme — he told us what he made of the shortfall. there is no question that the war in ukraine has obviously affected the priorities, the focus of many countries, and it is also very understandable that humanitarian suffering

that we have seen over the last few weeks emanating from the ukraine, with almost 10 million people displaced injust four weeks inside the country, outside the country, the enormous amount of destruction. these are extremely painful moments, but the harsh truth is we live in a world where there are multiple crisis and multiple wars. the question is is the world in 2022 not capable of mobilising the resources that sound like a lot of money, billions, but we just invested trillions into the wealthiest countries to get through the pandemic. we have the resources, even some oil—producing countries are going to end up making a lot more money as we just heard, with oil market prices going up, but are in fact cutting their international aid. the leadership and authorities in afghanistan have an announcement of the last few days also made it more difficult for the international community to engage. i'm thinking of the reversal of the decision to allow girls

to attend secondary schools. this was a key litmus test of the kind of criteria that would allow the world to engage in afghanistan, that signal obviously was a great setback. earlier this week russia announced it would �*drastically reduce' military action around kyiv — but nato has said moscow is not sticking to its pledge. our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, has been speaking to people still living in the ukrainian capital, and sent us this report. singing. a little bit of life in streets steeped in war. vlada buchko brings back the sound of this city. maybe now for me, it's like a mission.

first, it's about art. i want to show to people some...a little love. now we sing ukrainian songs — my songs are famous in ukraine songs — and try to show people we are together and we win. you're not scared here? no, i'm scary — it's normal! now, when you listen, "bah—back!" and "rah—ta—ta—ta—tah!" a lot of, of course i'm scary, but it's my city and...| want to save my city. a little lift in a war which doesn't let up. i was happy now because every day we're feeling bad, sometimes, because all the time we listen. syre na, you know? air—raid siren? yes, 0k. there was one just just five minutes ago. yes, just now there was, yes.

we hope that, very soon, that this war stops. kyiv still digs in — securing its splendid statues just in case. "i think everything will get better," danilo, a volunteer, tells me. "it'll be ok. we'rejust doing this in case it goes wrong." it went badly wrong this month in this neighbourhood in the north. apartments shattered by fragments of an intercepted russian missile. nerves shattered, too. translation: there is an air-raid alert now. i we have to run to the bomb shelter. you don't feel safe here. translation: no, no safety, and it's so cold in my flat - it's impossible to live there. we will stay in the bomb shelter until it's over. this mp carries on,

but with a gun at the ready. dmytro natalukha delivers medical equipment to kyiv�*s largest children's hospital — repurposed to care for casualties of war. he doesn't believe russia's promise to pull back from kyiv. of course, i would love to believe that, but i think it's just an attempt to save his face for his inside—russia audience, for his inner audience, because obviously the blitzkrieg plan has not succeeded. a yearning to carry a tune, not a gun. this war may ebb in one area, intensify in another — but until it ends, this, too, is resistance. lyse doucet, bbc news, kyiv. let's catch up with all the latest sports news. hello, there, i'm tulsen tollett, and this is your sports news, where we start with golf.

and the first women's major of the year — the chevron championship — has finished the opening round at rancho mirage in california, where there are joint leaders. they include the american jennifer kupcho. this is her approach to the 12th, which led to one of nine birdies she posted in a six—under—par round of 66. she shares the lead with australia's minjee lee, whose round was bogey—free. lee claimed her first major last year with victory in the evian championship. but it wasn't a great start for world number one kojin—young — the south korean who won this event in 2019 opened up with a 74. that's two—over par, eight shots behind the joint leaders. wolfsberg are through to the uefa women's champions league semifinals after a 3—1 aggregate win over arsenal. the germans were 2—0 winners in the second leg at home — goals from former arsenal playerjill roord, and then an own goal by leah williamson handing them the victory. two—time winners wolfsberg now face holders barcelona in the last four.

seven—time winners lyon are also through to the semi—finals after they beatjuventus 3—1 in their second leg for a 4—3 aggregate victory. former world player of the year ada hegerberg, who's the tournament's highest—ever goal—scorer, picked up the opener and, they now play fellow french side paris saint—germain for a place in the final. the draw for this year's world cup in qatar takes place in the coming hours in doha. 29 of the 32 nations are known thus far, with teams drawn into eight groups of four, with the tournament taking place between the 21st of november and 18th of december. daniil medvedev missed the chance to reclaim the number one ranking after losing to hubert hurkacz in the miami masters quarterfinals. poland's defending champion will play carlos alcaraz in the last four after his straight sets 7—6, 6—3 win over the russian medvedev, and it means 20—time grand slam

champion novak djokovic remains top of the rankings, despite not featuring in florida. i knew that hubert can play great tennis, and for me it was more important in a way just to win the match itself than to become a number one. by winning the match, i saw it more as a bonus, so i don't feel like i was tired or anything because of this. imean, i... to be honest, i played a lot of matches where i had the pressure, a different one. and it's not like something new happened today in terms of, like, going out of court and feeling crazy tired or something. so i don't think that nerves were part of this. in the women's draw, naomi osaka came from a set down to beat olympic champion belinda bencic. the japanese four—time grand slam champion was a 4—6, 6—3, 6—4 winner over the swiss, as she seeks a first championship in this event. and you can get all the latest sports news, of course, at our website — that's bbc.com/sport — but from me, tulsen tollett, and the rest of the team,

that's your sports news for now. for more than a month now, the war in ukraine has caused chaos, devastation and confusion. millions of people have been forced to leave their homes — among them an unknown number of children. the bbc�*s tim allman reports on one group of youngsters whose world has been turned upside down — twice. life has already been cruel enough to these children. abandoned or bereaved, orphans who are now having to deal with the consequences of war. but, for many, their thoughts are elsewhere. "i'm not worried about myself," says karina, "i'm just worried about my loved ones who stayed behind. i'm very worried about them." when the war began the children lived in an orphanage in the donetsk region close to the border with russia. on the second day of the invasion, they were evacuated to a town north—west of the capital kyiv.

but that also proved to be too dangerous and soon they were on the move again, this time in a region to the far west of ukraine. translation: right now, we are in a safe place. - i think they feel like - we are back in peacetime, like nothing has happened. i don't discuss . what's going on. let it remain beyond these walls, and here is a smalll circle of childhood. no—one knows how long the fighting will last or how long these children will have to remain here. for now, they can play, as if the war isn't happening at all. tim allman, bbc news. on a happier note a new home has been found for an abandoned pet in ukraine. meet bavaria — a schnauzer who was discovered a few days ago near kyiv. bavaria has been taken in by a volunteer. a relatively happy ending for everyone — except olga's cat kasus. he's not too keen on his new housemate —

and has taken to hiding on top of the fridge. 0h, kasus! hello. spring weather can often be erratic, and we've certainly seen that play out during the past few days. march, for a good part of the time, was dry and sunny. in fact, scotland and northern ireland, according to the met office, provisionally had the sunniest march on record. it was only on sunday we saw conditions like this in aberdeenshire. the warmest parts of the country 19 degrees. fast forward to thursday afternoon, and temperatures at times only 2 celsius as the snow showers came down fairly heavy. and they are continuing as we go into friday as well. the run of north—northeasterly winds all they way from the arctic continue. strongest towards the southeast as we start friday, linked into this area of low pressure developing across europe. and it's here we could see a further covering of snow. high pressure trying to build in, and with showers fading for most into the morning, we will see a widespread frost, and across eastern areas, icy conditions to begin the day. for most of you, actually

a sunny start to friday. the sleet and snow showers across eastern areas continue, particularly towards that southeast corner, and they will develop a bit more widely as we go through the day. but turning more to rain and sleet rather than pure snow. also at the same time, clouding over through the morning for the highlands and islands, that cloud will bring rain and hill snow across parts of scotland and eventually into northern ireland later in the day. temperatures still on the cold side, 6—10 degrees, feeling coldest towards the southeast corner, especially with the strongest of the winds. but improving conditions for the afternoon compared with the morning, more in the way of dry weather. now, as we go into the night, friday night into saturday, we will see outbreaks of rain and hill snow spread its way southwards into wales. that should keep the temperatures just above freezing away from the hills and mountains, but elsewhere, another very cold night with a widespread frost, and the risk of ice to start the weekend. but for many, actually quite a bright day. there will be a few showers close to the east, the main showers will be across wales, southwest england, a little bit wintry over the hills. cloud will bubble up

through the day to produce occasional slow—moving showers, but the vast majority will spend either the whole or the bulk of the day dry. temperature up a little bit and given the lighter winds and that strong sunshine overhead, it shouldn't feel too bad out there, especially compared with thursday. into sunday, another widespread frost to begin with, isolated showers developing through the day as cloud builds up, but another batch of thicker cloud, outbreaks of rain, stronger winds pushing towards the northwest of scotland, and they will bring slightly milder weather as we go into next week. that's how it's looking. i will see you again soon.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. putin's gas threat to europe. pay us in roubles from today — or we'll cut you off. assets in dollars and euros are frozen so it makes no sense to us use the currencies of these countries. fighting back in the energy wars. president biden confirms the biggest ever release of us oil reserves — to try and bring down prices at the pump. a punch on the first of the month. here in the uk — consumers face a 54 %jump in energy bills — as the cap on what suppliers can charge is raised plus— back to 2020.

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